Sunroof Cassette Drain Issue

[ovo_e30]

Before anyone tells me to check the 4 drains for blockage, don't worry i already did and they drain just fine.
My problem is although the water is draining through the tubes the rear headliner is leaking water from the cassette center area. My guess is that the drains aren't draining quick enough for all the water to drain out.

My first attempt to trouble shoot: I attached new smaller hoses to both rear drains and aimed them at the tires so I can visually see the drain hose move the water. Sprayed the sunroof to simulate heavy rain. The water flowed quite well (not trickling), but I can still see a small waterfall gushing out the center of the headliner and pouring into the rear bench.

Any advice? I'm stumped. I might just tear off the headliner and inspect the cassette and see whats up. I don't want to ruin my headliner but its gonna happen via water or by hand. I choose by hand.

[ovo_e30]

Tomorrow, I'm gonna take off the sunroof panel and pour a water down each side and try and see why it's pooling up. Hopefully it's nothing major.

[twright]

Does your sunroof have a seal around the outer edge? If not, maybe too much water is coming into the drain area for them to work correctly.

[mjweimer]

That black tray in the pics should be attached to the sunroof headliner.....it follow's the sunroof panel position and when the panel is closed is directs water from the back sealing edge to the side channels. It does not look like that is attached and is floating back in the roof. Without this channel in the right position, you will get leaks.

Part # 9 attaches the headliner from to the channel (#12)....

https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/showparts?id=1113-USA-03-1990-E30-BMW-325i&diagId=54_0128

[ovo_e30]

Does your sunroof have a seal around the outer edge? If not, maybe too much water is coming into the drain area for them to work correctly.

I have a brand new seal on it, however, mjweimer seems to have answered why my headliner is leaking like a mofo. I wasn’t sure what that black tray was. I thought it was a support brace or something.

[mjweimer]

I have a brand new seal on it, however, mjweimer seems to have answered why my headliner is leaking like a mofo. I wasn’t sure what that black tray was. I thought it was a support brace or something.

Hopefully your sunroof headliner is intact and you can simply reconnect the rear channel drain....it looks like the clips on the channel drain are in place but hard to tell if they are broken.


For future reference, there are two arms on each side of the headliner frame (pn: 54 12 1 857 141/142 = L/R) that snap into clips on each side of the rear channel drain (pn: 54 12 1 934 933). The arms are held to the headliner frame with rivets (pn: 07 11 9 949 614).

All of these parts are currently available but the left and right arms are spendy so it's best to try to find used pieces. You can rivet new arms to the existing sunroof headliner frame easily with a center punch....pics below.


Arm:




Drilled rivets and new rivet:




The process:








The entire panel:




Hope this helps.

[ovo_e30]

I tossed that liner a while ago because it was beyond rusted. I never retract my sunroof all the way back. I just tilt it open and close it for air, occasionally. I pulled forward the rain gutter and the leaking issue has stopped.

[silent31]

First post! This might be a very stupid question, so apologies in advance.

Isn't the main outer seal around the sunroof panel waterproof? The forums I read are full of horror stories of rotted out roofs and water channels. How does water even get in there? Is it that what should be a last-resort backup drainage system becomes the main way of keeping the roof dry because people never change the outer seal?

I'm slowly fixing things on my rolling restoration and the previous owner had some kind of roof repair done. From the looks of the surface corrosion in the boot, it was dumping water into the two wells behind each rear wheel. Peeping through the narrow gap with the sunroof fully back, I can see traces of rust here and there, but nothing major. I imagine (although I haven't looked properly yet as my winter storage is very cramped) that rubber pipes come from the four corners of the sunroof frame, two to the A-pillars, and two to the C-pillars and into the boot. Then the water exits eventually in front of each wheel. Please correct me if I'm wrong - I'm just trying to get a good understanding of the system before inspect it once there's decent weather.

So back to the original question - why invent such an elaborate system at all, that seems to very often go wrong? Surely better to have a properly working and easily replaceable outer seal around the sunroof panel? I've had a Z3 and have an E93 convertible right now, and they are understandably intricate, and get blocked - but nothing that a trombone cleaner, boiling water and a toothbrush can't fix. Why the internal channels on an E30?

[cory58]

First post! This might be a very stupid question, so apologies in advance.

Isn't the main outer seal around the sunroof panel waterproof? The forums I read are full of horror stories of rotted out roofs and water channels. How does water even get in there? Is it that what should be a last-resort backup drainage system becomes the main way of keeping the roof dry because people never change the outer seal?

I'm slowly fixing things on my rolling restoration and the previous owner had some kind of roof repair done. From the looks of the surface corrosion in the boot, it was dumping water into the two wells behind each rear wheel. Peeping through the narrow gap with the sunroof fully back, I can see traces of rust here and there, but nothing major. I imagine (although I haven't looked properly yet as my winter storage is very cramped) that rubber pipes come from the four corners of the sunroof frame, two to the A-pillars, and two to the C-pillars and into the boot. Then the water exits eventually in front of each wheel. Please correct me if I'm wrong - I'm just trying to get a good understanding of the system before inspect it once there's decent weather.

So back to the original question - why invent such an elaborate system at all, that seems to very often go wrong? Surely better to have a properly working and easily replaceable outer seal around the sunroof panel? I've had a Z3 and have an E93 convertible right now, and they are understandably intricate, and get blocked - but nothing that a trombone cleaner, boiling water and a toothbrush can't fix. Why the internal channels on an E30?

The seal around the main sunroof panel is not mean to be water tight, just minimize the amount of water getting in. That is why there are also drains built in.

[cory58]

Hopefully your sunroof headliner is intact and you can simply reconnect the rear channel drain....it looks like the clips on the channel drain are in place but hard to tell if they are broken.


For future reference, there are two arms on each side of the headliner frame (pn: 54 12 1 857 141/142 = L/R) that snap into clips on each side of the rear channel drain (pn: 54 12 1 934 933). The arms are held to the headliner frame with rivets (pn: 07 11 9 949 614).

All of these parts are currently available but the left and right arms are spendy so it's best to try to find used pieces. You can rivet new arms to the existing sunroof headliner frame easily with a center punch....pics below.


Arm:




Drilled rivets and new rivet:




The process:








The entire panel:




Hope this helps.

That is an awesome response. More like a borderline DIY. Great info and photos. Thank you!

[mjweimer]

That is an awesome response. More like a borderline DIY. Great info and photos. Thank you!

Thanks - I had a really hard time finding any the info when doing my repair so I took plenty of pictures in hopes of helping others at some point. It's not hard work if you know what to expect but easy to screw up otherwise.

[mjweimer]

First post! This might be a very stupid question, so apologies in advance.

Isn't the main outer seal around the sunroof panel waterproof? The forums I read are full of horror stories of rotted out roofs and water channels. How does water even get in there? Is it that what should be a last-resort backup drainage system becomes the main way of keeping the roof dry because people never change the outer seal?

I'm slowly fixing things on my rolling restoration and the previous owner had some kind of roof repair done. From the looks of the surface corrosion in the boot, it was dumping water into the two wells behind each rear wheel. Peeping through the narrow gap with the sunroof fully back, I can see traces of rust here and there, but nothing major. I imagine (although I haven't looked properly yet as my winter storage is very cramped) that rubber pipes come from the four corners of the sunroof frame, two to the A-pillars, and two to the C-pillars and into the boot. Then the water exits eventually in front of each wheel. Please correct me if I'm wrong - I'm just trying to get a good understanding of the system before inspect it once there's decent weather.

So back to the original question - why invent such an elaborate system at all, that seems to very often go wrong? Surely better to have a properly working and easily replaceable outer seal around the sunroof panel? I've had a Z3 and have an E93 convertible right now, and they are understandably intricate, and get blocked - but nothing that a trombone cleaner, boiling water and a toothbrush can't fix. Why the internal channels on an E30?

The rear sunroof drain tubes terminate in the trunk vent boxes on either side of the car. These are hidden on the outside by the bumper/bumper trim and on the inside by the trunk liner(s). If you remove the trunk trim you can easily see where they are located.

The front drain tubes end up down in the rockers just forward of the door openings. To see where they terminate, you need to remove the front speaker covers, the speakers at the kick panels and pull the small plastic covers that hold the tubes in place.


My bet is that the sunroof seal is in place for two reasons, to slow down the amount of water entering the roof cavity and to reduce wind noise. A miss-adjusted sunroof is noticeably louder than a properly adjusted one. The method of having a drip tray at the rear and four simple gravity drains is actually fairly simple/brilliant considering all the moving parts in the whole sunroof mechanism.